DPS Mailing #01-44: Decadal survey, astrobiology workshop

The NRC Large Satellites Panel of the Solar System Exploration Survey
solicits your input with regard to science themes and key questions in
our draft outline. It is available in word95, html, and text formats at:

The original format is word95, so the text and html versions contain
some formatting errors.

We have not yet attempted to prioritize future missions or other
initiatives, but further comments about these important issues continue
to be welcome.

The tasks of the Large Satellites panel are: to conduct a broad survey
of the current state of knowledge about the large outer planet
satellites; to inventory the top-level scientific questions that should
provide the focus for large satellite exploration in the coming decade
and beyond; and to produce a prioritized list of the most promising
avenues for flight investigations and supporting ground-based
activities.

The NRC Large Satellites Panel consists of Alfred McEwen (Chair), Bob
Pappalardo (Vice-Chair), Caitlin Griffith, Torrence Johnson, Krishan
Khurana, and Bill Moore. For the purpose of this survey, a "large"
satellite is defined as those satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
and Neptune >300 km diameter. The smaller (generally irregular)
satellites of these planets and Pluto/Charon are covered by the
Primitive Bodies panel; Triton will be considered by both the Large
Satellites and the Primitive Bodies panels.

The California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory are hosting a multi-disciplinary workshop to identify what
observations of the composition of the Mars atmosphere would allow
the detection of extant subsurface life, remnants of life, or
signatures of past climate supportive of life. A key question is how
to distinguish between actual biosignatures and atmospheric
composition resulting from volcanic emissions and other
non-biological natural processes that might be occurring on Mars.

Members of the scientific community are invited to participate in
plenary session discussions and present poster talks. The proceedings
of the workshop will be published.